Drywall hangers were here yesterday. You would have known by the silly grin I had plastered (pun intended) on my face throughout the day. It was a happy day, a day I never thought would get here when piles upon piles of wood were put in my car's space in the garage. That was a year and a half ago! I still don't have my car in the garage, but it's getting closer!

When they arrived in the morning, they were quiet. They were moving the drywall sheets, joint compound buckets, and other materials down to the basement from our driveway. When we left to take Kyle to the doctor it was quiet, quiet.

Not so much so when we returned. Lots of banging and drilling and banging and drilling. Thankfully we had gotten back in enough time for the babies to get used to the sounds before their naps and putting them down was fine. In fact, the noises might have kept them sleeping late which was really helpful as you will understand in a minute.

I was getting ready to go pick up the big boys at the bus stop when one of the guys comes up and says in broken English, "Ummm...Miss...pipe...water". I run down to find a gushing pipe they had hit with one of the screws and a ten foot wide puddle which keeps flowing. I don't know what to do. These guys don't speak English and my Spanish is much more food oriented. "Necesito una margarita" would have come in handy later, but right now I wanted to scream, "Holy Cats boys get some towels, stop up the hole, how could you have done this? AAAAHHHH!"

I call my husband who is trying to understand where the hole in the pipe is while he is talking the the contractor who hired these guys to do the work. In the meantime I'm running across the street trying to find my neighbor, Jose, to do some translating for me. He comes over and I'm pretty ticked off so I do some things I probably shouldn't have done like stomp my feet and sigh a lot. After direction from Steve and the contractor, Jose tells the guys we will take care of the water leak and they should just get back to work. I managed to turn off the water main line and the pipe settles down.

The big boys arrive home and are all over the task of sweeping and vacuuming up the water. They are filthy, but most of the water is up. Crisis averted.

We went out to eat because you can't work without water and Steve went to Home Depot to find some parts to fix it. When he got home, he realized he wasn't going to be able to fix it and called our plumber who had done the original work. He said there was a water main for the basement, so we were able to have water in the late evening.

As a side note, the kids really enjoyed the fact they couldn't take a shower, even though it wasn't a typical shower day to begin with, and they had to brush their teeth with bottled water. I think they spend three times longer brushing their teeth with the bottled water than under the faucet. There was also talk of carrying water from the rain barrel to flush a toilet which needed flushing which got great excitement too! Novel things...

Today everything is fine. I still feel bad for being so grumpy with these guys to whom I can't say I'm sorry to. After the crisis was over I said, "Lo siento mucho" (I'm very sorry), but i'm not sure if they understood the issue.

Tomorrow is another day. The drywallers will be here in the morning mudding and pasting, getting us to our goal. Jose has given me some lines to use, although I'm glad we distinguished the difference between the words bitch and slut in Spanish! I think "me culpa" will suit just fine!

In the meantime, "Necisito una margarita, por favor!"

And Again!

As I'm catching up with my blogs, the big kids are at school and the babies are napping. I go to meet the school bus and guess what I find?

Another lost tooth! Three in a week! Sheesh!

If the kid keeps it up, we are going to have to start feeding him jello and soup!

And the tooth fairy is going to be broke!

There really is nothing more tortuous than looking at pictures of houses under construction. Really, you can't figure out what is what, no sense of where rooms are in relation to others rooms. Just sticks nailed together. Like this:

So consider this your fair warning as I dive into the newest project at our home, basement finishing! And by newest, I mean we have been at this since the babies were three months-old (they are about to turn two next month). Because, of course, the best time to start a ginormous project such as finishing your basement is when you have newborn twins. Right?

In fairness, this is something we need. Although our house is large, so is our family. Five children need their space and, face it, another TV. So Steve has been toiling many weekends and sometimes after work just to get to this point.

He has done the framing and the electrical with minimal help from his Dad (Hi Phil!). The HVAC work was done in a weekend with help from my friend's husband (Hi Andi!). The plumbing we hired out (Hi plumber guy!). Steve has really done a fantastic job, I am very proud of him!

So tomorrow is the big day! The drywall people come and we actually get some walls! From there we will have a lot more work to do, but I feel like we are finally getting somewhere!

When we are finished, we will have a work room with utility sink, guest room, full bath, bar/pool table area, play/TV area, and my favorite part:

A small room with large pantry!

In the meantime, I am looking for all ideas on how to keep drywall dust down in the rest of the house. Suggestions welcome! I can't wait to share with you the finished product!

Full Bath

Den/Guest Room with two closets

TV/Play Area with bar area in the background

OOOPS! He Did It Again!

As you may have seen in the last post, Lance had a gray tooth on the top. We honestly have no idea how it happened. We came home from a vacation two summers ago and POOF! A gray tooth. Although it was not pretty to look at, the dentist said it was nothing to worry about.

Until it started to bleed. On Thursday, Lance came downstairs after brushing his teeth and it was bleeding. It had gotten looser and also more gray recently, but this was worrisome. I called the dentist right away and scheduled an appointment for later that morning.

When we arrived at the office, the dentist said there was an infection in the tooth and it needed to be P-U-L-L-E-D. I had warned Lance about this, but he wasn't worried because he had just lost his bottom tooth the week before. So he was all for it!

Meanwhile, I am struggling with the babies, trying to corral them into a corner as dental tools and buttons scream their names. "Luke, touch me!" "Kate, play with me!" "Luke, break me!" But this isn't a story about my pain and suffering, it's about Lance's.

But there was no pain and suffering. He rocked! He didn't flinch at all to the first round of novocaine shots and only once with the second, which was in the palette of the mouth and would have left me running from the room.

After the numbness was in full-effect, the doctor pulled the tooth with little effort. Lance was great and came home with another prize to put in his tooth pillow.

And this time he didn't lose it!

Just in time for Halloween, my Lance-O-Lantern!

Blessed

Lance just after he lost his first tooth.

I was laying in my bed very early (too early) this morning after being awoken by my fabulous five year-old. He had a nightmare about a "zombie booger" and quickly fell asleep after snuggling in. I tossed and turned trying to get comfortable with the new addition to our bed as my thoughts turned to how blessed our family is. It warms my heart. Lance sleeping soundly in bed with his mommy and daddy, the rest of the children snug in their beds, with filled tummies, good health and happiness is pretty much all I ask for as a mom.

Every day I make a promise to be a better mom, have more patience, don't yell, give my kids opportunities to be the best they can be. At the end of each day I aspire to be better, to be the mom my kids will look up to and learn from. The kind of mom they like to be with as well as the mom who sets boundaries they don't want to cross.

The adage these days is, "Given this economy..." and I know how fortunate we are. We are able to put food on the table and have a roof over our heads, but our family is much more than that. It is the unconditional love we show which makes us rich. To admit our mistakes, to respect one another and to express love and kindness. We aren't perfect, but we do the best we can every day.

In the end, I may never know if I succeeded. It is my children and their children who will decide if I was a good mom and I will probably be long gone. Really it doesn't matter if I ever know. As long as I am the soft place to fall when my kids need me, whether it be for a "zombie booger" nightmare or a broken heart, I know I am doing something right.

He kind of does look a zombie booger!

Visit to DC

We went to DC today to visit some of the sights. The weather was perfect, a blue sky with a couple of poofy clouds here and there. We had no sports scheduled, so we decided to take advantage of our proximity to our Nation's Capital and explore.

We had first decided to go to the zoo, but changed our minds as we went over the Potomac River into town to go to the memorials and museums. We found a parking spot and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. Trent has really been into history, especially the Presidents, so he wanted to check it out.

Steve and some of the kids in front of his hero "Thomas Jefferson."

Observation #1: The monuments are not very accessible or at least not very intuitive. Getting around with our double stroller was not easy, but at least with two people we could lift the stroller over a couple of steps. People with wheelchairs are probably frustrated on a daily basis.

Then the food frenzy was on. Everybody was hungry!

Observation #2: Unless you want a hot dog or pretzel, you are pretty much screwed for food. It's a good thing everything tastes good with peanut M&M's, right Kyle???

We ate lunch in front of the fountain at the American History museum. Luke is particularly fascinated with shooting water, we hope this translates into a quick potty training! It was particularly lovely.

After lunch, we walked to the Natural History museum as we touted Mammoths, the Hope Diamond newly removed from her necklace setting, the insect zoo with hissing cockroaches, and mummies.

Observation #3: My memory is not as good as it once was.

We saw the mammoth, after much searching because we came in the back way. I remember being stunned by its enormous tusks and awestruck by its gigantic girth. The boys were not impressed. We went and saw the Hope diamond, after warning my kids that I remembered not being too impressed with it. After competing with a bunch of blue-haired old ladies, they finally got a glimpse. Not too impressed. Then we went to the insect zoo, but first we had to walk through the skeleton area. That was probably where we spent the most time and where Lance would have spent more time. Kyle was anxious to get to the insects and Trent was laying on the floor saying he was tired. We needed to move!

Lance's pictures from the skeleton exhibit.

Observation #4: If you have a lot of people in your group, you probably aren't going to get a chance to see all you want to see.

We got to the Insect Zoo and saw some cool metamorphosis exhibits with real butterflies and moths, a cool active bee hive, but no hissing cockroaches. At least not the way I remembered, where the kids would actually touch them and other insects like millipedes. They may have been in a different spot but we didn't see them. Kyle was a little disappointed.

As we were leaving, the babies were really starting to loose it. The boys and Steve had movie tickets starting in 45 minutes, so I decided I would take the babies while they looked around a little more until there movie started. They were both screaming in their stroller as I tried to get out of this place.

Observation #5: The Natural History Museum is very hard to navigate without using stairs than the Jefferson Memorial.

I weaved through the maze of artifacts, sculptures and tourists. One even said to me, "After hearing your babies, my husband just said we should have another." It's exactly what Steve would say to me so I said, "You go for one more [one finger held up] and you get this [finger pointing to the twins]." She laughed, I kept trying to find the flipping exit!

Observation #6: Most people will get out of the way for a woman pushing a stroller of screaming babies. To them I give them a smile and a "thank you" and keep trucking. Some will not. To them I give them an "excuse me" and then promptly run over their toes, feet, and ankles!

I got outside and the babies snuggled in for a nap. I walked around the National Mall, from the museum to the Capitol, up to the Washington Monument, and back to the museum. The last time I was walking the mall I was with my friend Kathleen. There was a protest, but I don't think we ever figured out what it was for. They were bare-chested or wearing pink and singing protest songs, so all we could come with was "Women with Breast Cancer Against the War in Iraq".

Today the protests on the Capitol steps were about equal rights for gay Americans. It's actually a cause I agree with so I was interested in hearing what they said. I had the pleasure of listening to Cynthia Nixon from "Sex and the City" speak and some teens who had won some awards for their awesome speeches on equality.

Observation #7: There were some rather handsome well-dressed men at this protests, most with their arm around another man or holding another man's hand. It seems to be true for all of my single friends, the good ones are either taken or gay. Sorry Sisters!

Observation #8: I'm really glad Trent wasn't around to see all I saw today. He would have had asked a lot of questions I don't think I'm prepared to answer yet.

After the babies fell asleep and I had gotten close to where we had planned to meet, I had about 15 minutes to sit and relax until I had to meet Steve and the boys. I decided to sit under an oak tree with my babies and my phone, clean up some of the pictures, take a few, and text a couple of people. I then closed my eyes for about 10 minutes. It was lovely and relaxing!

Luke and Kate snuggled up next to each other.

I got a lot of comments on how cute they looked.

We met up again and trekked back to the car. It was quite a hike and everyone did pretty well. Lance has the shortest legs so he needs a bit of a pass, I gave him a piggyback for a little bit at the end, but everyone did great.

On our way home we went to Red Robin. I hadn't been there in 11 or 12 years and certainly not with kids...boy have we been missing out! The food was good, the entertainment for the kids was good, and unending fries??? Why hadn't we done this sooner? It will probably be our go-to place from now on.

Observation #9: We had such a good time today I think I may venture out by myself tomorrow to the zoo with the kids. Steve has to work so it won't be as much fun, but we'll try!